Anniversary of Beach Boy Dennis Wilson's Death

12/28/2010.

(Gibson) On this day in 1983, Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys, having made two successful dives below a friend's yacht to find items he'd drunkenly thrown off his own boat three years before, took a deep breath and made one last plunge into the Pacific. He never returned.

The surf, ironically, took the man who had celebrated it to millions for over two decades. But truth be told, Dennis Wilson had set a course for his final voyage many years before.

Dennis was the second son of a tyrannical, abusive father, Murry Wilson. While his older brother, Brian, was the apparent alpha child — having prodigious musical talents, as well as being quarterback of his high school football team — Dennis was more the rebel, the agitator. He was the one who spoke up when everyone else was too shy or cowed, even if it got him a beating from the old man. more on this story